Emily Blunt has been one busy woman. The award-winning actress received critical acclaim for her performance in Christopher Nolan’s nuclear epic Oppenheimer, which premiered just before the SAG-AFTRA strike began in July.
This month she can be seen in David Yates’ Netflix conspiracy drama Pain Hustlers, before being back on the big screen once again early next year in the highly-anticipated action flick The Fall Guy, co-starring Ryan Gosling.
WATCH NOW: Emily Blunt and John Krasinski SAG Awards Red Carpet. Article continues after video.
So it came as no surprise when Blunt announced she was taking a little hiatus from Hollywood to spend more time with daughters Hazel, 9, and Violet, 7, who she shares with husband John Krasinski.
“This year, I’m not working. I worked quite a bit last year and my oldest baby is 9, so we’re in the last year of single digits,” the 40-year-old explained on the Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast.
Taking a step away was something, Blunt admits, she felt was necessary “in my bones”. “I just feel [like] there are cornerstones to their day that are so important when they’re little. And it’s, ‘Will you wake me up? Will you take me to school? Will you pick me up? Will you put me to bed?’” she continued. “And I just need to be there for all of them for a good stretch.”
With a résumé that ranges from the sci-fi-action flick Edge of Tomorrow to the reimagined children’s classic Mary Poppins Returns and a number of prestigious accolades under her belt, it wouldn’t be outrageous to assume a more permanent step away from the screen – à la Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz – but Blunt has assured that she’s not ready to call time on her acting career just yet.
“I really don’t want to give up acting; I love it so much,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I have this thing inside me, this burning thing that is only fed by this job – which, yes, I entered into casually, but has become a mad love affair.”
But while her passion for the craft may run deep, the joy of motherhood is what inspires Blunt.
“My children in general, and in so many ways, make me happy,” she told Harper’s Bazaar earlier this year. “I love waking them up in the morning – I love how they smell, but I’m sure I won’t when they’re teenagers! I love picking them up from school, seeing their faces look for me amongst the parents, and then they catch my eye and their faces light up. Again, I’m sure that will change one day when they’re like, ‘Mum, I’ll meet you at the corner!’”
While Blunt says the girls are unfazed by her fame, they do still feel the repercussions of their mum’s life in the spotlight. So, when the star is working, she has a strict policy of never being absent from them for more than a fortnight.
“Even though they’re hardy, and they’re used to this strange life, it’s still rough on them when I have to go away,” she admitted.
An added bonus is spending more downtime with Krasinski, 44. It’s a nice change of pace for the pair, who have not only been working hard on their own projects but also spent time filming A Quiet Place and its sequel together in the last five years.
“It was all that we talked about, all that we focused on,” Blunt says of the films.
Now with the strike – and Blunt’s hiatus – putting all their filming and promotional commitments on the back-burner, the pair have been spending time “watching things like The Voice” and adding to their brood with a new puppy. “We [rescued] a puppy who’s absolutely beautiful,” she shared.
“I wasn’t wanting to get a dog, but the kids were pushing for it and John was up for it. I don’t mind getting up early with this puppy because it means that John and I can kind of talk in the morning and catch up and really talk before the kids are up.”
Krasinski is equally as happy for some quiet time with his wife of 13 years. “I wouldn’t be anywhere in my life without her,” the actor told Parade. “On a daily basis, but certainly … career-wise, as a dad, she pushes me to be better every single day at everything I do. So I look forward to the next day ’cause I know it’ll be better than the one before.”
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